MNB-GW Flexibility

In addition to playing the normal game, it is easy to design custom hypothetical and historical scenarios. This is an extended example of play to show how the game works. In several places I compare this new game to the original to show how the new game is an improvement. Please understand, when I designed the original back in 1988, it was the very best I could do and Im still very proud of it, but Ive gained some experience and worked with some great people in the last 20 years, and I hope the new design shows it. Scenario: Raider Force-194 Situation: At the height of WWIII a small Soviet naval force was dispatched to harass the ports and harbors along Norway's cost. The group was designated Raider-194 and consisted of two frigates and a submarine. After suffering several attacks, the Norwegian navy stepped up patrols and on the morning of March 5th, a patrolling force located Raider-194 and engaged them in combat. Game Analysis: We will play the battle from the Norwegian commander's point of view. In this battle, both sides have 11vp of ships. Neither side has inherent air support and will have to rely on Action Cards to provide it. Both navies also have a submarine, which gives them a lot of options. The Norwegians have a superior surface force, and the Soviets have a superior submarine. Fiction/Story: Kommandor Fredriksen looked out from the Bergens bridge to check the positions of the Narvik and Trondheim sailing several miles away. He knew that somewhere beneath the waves, the Ula prowled quietly through the choppy waters in its hunt for the Soviet Alfa. Overhead, the sky was overcast, and the seas were dark. He nodded once more to himself that everything was as it should be. If NATO intel was right, Kaptain Karpol was in command of the raiding force, and he was going to be a handful. Fredriksen had just turned thirty and did not relish the idea of going against the more experience Russian. Thirty miles away across the rolling Norwegian sea, Kaptain Karpol knocked the last ashes from his pipe on the railing outside the Krivaks weather deck. The wind was icy, but not so bad for one whod spent his youth in snow up to his chest. He smiled sadly at the memory, for that was a long time ago, and the gray in his beard and hair paid testament to those winters of his distant youth.

Soviet Fleet

Norway Fleet

Prepare for Play:

A die roll determined the Soviet player will go first. He arranges his fleet with the Neustrashimy in the first row, the Krivak in the second row, and the Alfa off to the side in the submarine area. His ships are arranged to face him, so we see them upside-down. The Alfa begins rotated to show it is Passive, and harder to attack. As the Norwegian player, we decide to begin with the Bergen and Narvik in the first row, the Trondheim in the second row, and the rotated Passive Ula off to the side. As we look across the table, here is what we see

How to Win: Since we started with 11vp fleets, the first player to sink 11vp of enemy ships wins. The Victory Point (vp) value of each ship is shown in its lower-right corner.

Both players are then dealt 7 cards face-down. Here are the cards we are dealt:

A nice selection! We have some gun and missile attack and defense options, and some friendly air support is in the area. The Near Miss is a good universal defense card and will no doubt come in handy. The Air Support card (#1) can be used to stop an Air Strike or Cruise Missile attack (on a die roll of 3 or higher), or attempt to sink an enemy submarine (an ASW attack) (die roll 5 or higher), or sink an enemy ship (3+). All die rolls are rolled on a single 6-sided die. The first Missile Combat card (#2) is a Cruise Missile (see symbol in top-left corner) and will inflict 6 hits to ships at a range of 2 or 3 rows (as indicated by the green and red squares in its lower-right corner, and can only be played by a ship with a Cruise Missile symbol. The first Gun Combat card (#3) (Medium Gun) can either stop a Small, Medium, or Large Gun Attack (2+), or score 2 hits at a range of 1 row, and is fired from a ship with a Medium Gun symbol. The Near Miss card (#4) will stop one Small Gun Attack, Medium Gun Attack, Air strike, Torpedo Attack, Large Gun Attack, ASW attack, Surface-to-Surface Missile Attack, or Cruise Missile Attack (3+). The second Gun Combat card (#5) (Small Gun) can stop a Gun Attack (4+) or inflict 2 hits at range 1 and is fired from a ship with a Small Gun symbol. The second Missile Card (#6) (Surface-to-Surface) can stop an Air Strike, Surface-to-Surface Missile, or Cruise Missile attack (4+), or inflict 3 hits at range 1 or 2, played by a ship with a Surface-to-Surface Missile symbol.

The third Missile Card (#7) (Multi-type) has both defense and attack capabilities. It can be played for a ship that has either a Surface-to-Surface Missile symbol (SSM) or a Cruise Missile symbol (CM). Also note, most of these cards have a Reinforcement value of 1. This is the number under the 3 stars. This means in addition to any other actions the card can perform, it can be used toward bringing in another ship. This brings up a vital improvement between the original game published back in 1989 and this new edition. In the original game, every card had one function: attack, defense, or special. This meant there was a good deal of luck built into the game play. If you didnt have the exact card you needed, you couldnt do anything in the game. In this new edition, most of the cards have several functions. This greatly increases your ability to make decisions and decide how you want to act or react. A great example is the Air Support card shown above. It can be used to defend against 2 types of attack, or attack an enemy sub, or attack an enemy ship, or pay 1vp toward a new ships cost. With one card, I get to use it in 4 different ways. This gives me a lot of control over my tactics. In the old game, these actions were handled by 4 different cards.

Turn #1 - Soviet Player

The Soviet player first gets to reorganize his fleet however he likes and change the Active/Passive posture of his submarines. Reorganize Fleet: He rotates his Alfa from Passive to Active. This isnt good. The only reason hed do this is if he was planning to attack. His fleet now looks like this:

Declare Actions: He then starts playing cards. If a card is fired from a ship, he declares which ship is firing it. He also declares the target of each attack.

He declares this SSM Missile card to be fired by the Neustrashimy (1st row), and target the Trondheim (2nd row) at a range of 2, which is within the cards range.

He declares the Krivak will use its inherent ASW capability to attack our passive submarine Ula. If we dont stop the attack, hell need to roll a 6 to succeed.

He declares the Alfa will fire this Torpedo card at the Narvik. Declare Defenses: We now get to react by playing cards with a defensive capability. We first examine the attacks to determine the seriousness of each. The Torpedo is the most deadly because it will sink the Narvik if it isnt stopped. The Missile Attack will only score 1 hit, and it takes 2 to sink the Trondheim, but still, I dont want to take any damage this early in the battle. The Krivaks ASW attack is the most remote. Hell need to roll a 6 for it to hit, and even if he does, the Ula can use its Evade capability to try and stop it.

I play Near Miss against the Torpedo Combat card.

I play a Multi-Missile to stop the Missile Combat card.

The Ula is Passive, so it has an inherent ability to stop any attack made against it by using its Evade capability on a 3+. Defense Rolls: I now roll to determine the success of my defenses. I choose to roll for the Near Miss first. I need to roll a 3 or higher to stop the Torpedo Attack from sinking the Trondheim. I roll, and get a 5! Great, the attack is stopped, and both cards are discarded. Next, I roll for my Missile card to stop the incoming SSM Missile Attack. I need a 4 or higher, and I get a 6. Excellent. The attack is stopped, and both cards get discarded. For the Ula, I need to roll a 3 or higher, and I roll a 2! Failure. I was unable to stop the attack. I hope he doesnt roll a 6 for his attack, or the Ula will be sunk. Resolve Attacks: The only attack remaining for the Soviet player to resolve is the ASW attack, he needs to roll a 6. He

rolls, and gets... a 5! Yikes, that was close, but the Ula survives. Discard: He can now discard as many cards as he likes. He chooses to discard one, a Cruise Missile card. This makes sense since none of his ships can fire Cruise Missile cards. Everyone Draws: He has only 4 cards in his hand, so he draws 3 to ring his hand to a full 7 cards. I also get to draw. I now hold 5 cards, so I draw 2. I now get to have a turn. Here is my hand:

The everyone draws rule is another improvement over the original game. In the original game, only the acting player got to draw cards at the end of his turn. This allowed for players to gang-up on a player and wear down his defenses until he was helpless. In the new version, everyone gets to fill their hands.

Turn #1 - Norwegian Player

In looking at the Soviet fleet, their most dangerous weapon is the Alfa. It can normally Evade any attack on a 5+, but when Passive, this improves to a 3+. Since the Alfa is now Active after conducting its attack, I think we need to try and kill it while we have the chance. Reorganize Fleet:

We rotate the Ula from Passive to Active. This will allow us to use its inherent ASW capability to target the Alfa. Since we only have one useable Gun Combat card, Well also move the Bergen from the 1st row to the 2nd row. This will protect it from Gun attacks on their next turn. Declare Actions:

The Ula targets the Alfa with an ASW attack (success 5+).

Well also target the Alfa with our Air Support card, using its ASW capability (success 5+).

Our Narvik will fire a Gun Attack at their Neustrashimy. Note the Gun symbol on the Narvik matches the Gun symbol in the Gun Combat cards top-left corner. If successful, it will not sink the ship, but it will at least damage it.

None of our ships have this gun symbol, so we cannot play the card as an attack. We can still play it as a Gun defense card though.

We also play a Battle Plan to gain +1 on all our die rolls until the start of our next turn. This will help us both this turn, and when we are defending on their next turn.

Our Bergen fires a SSM Missile attack against their Krivak. If successful, this will sink the target. Declare Defenses: The Soviet player now plays his defense cards.

Against my Gun Attack, he plays 2 Gun Combat cards defensively. He must really want to stop my Gun Attack!

He also plays an Intel against my Air Support. This cancels my Air Support card. Defense Die Rolls: He gets a chance on a 4+ and 2+ to cancel my Gun Attack and rolls 1 and 5. This cancels it. Lucky for him he played 2! His Alfa then gets to roll an Evade die to escape my Ulas ASW attack. It needs to roll 5+ to Evade, and rolls a 2. The attack is not negated. He played no defense against my SSM Missile Attack against the Krivak. Resolve Attacks: I have 2 attacks to be resolved, the SSM Missile Attack against the Krivak and my Ula ASW attack against the Alfa. The SSM hits the Krivak scoring 3 hits. If the Krivak takes 3 or more hits it is sunk, so this attack sinks it. My Ula needs to roll is ASW of 5+ to sink the Alfa, but we played Battle Plan, so well hit on a 4+. We roll and get a 6! The Alfa is sunk. Reinforce:

We cannot use the Missile Combat because none of our ships have a Cruise Missile symbol. We cannot use the Gun Combat to attack for the same reason, but we can play it to defend. At some point we might want to use the Retreat and Repair, but not right now as we dont have any damaged ships. Each of these cards has a Reinforcement value of 1, so we could trade them in for a ship with a VP value of 3. I discard the Missile Combat and Retreat & Repair to bring in the Skjold. I add the ship to my 1st row. The Skjold isnt very big, but it does have an Evade of 5+, which will help it to survive. Our fleet now looks like this...

Discard Cards: We can choose to discard the last card in our hand, but it can be played as a Gun defense, so Ill keep it. Everyone Draws: The Soviet player holds 4 cards, so he draws 3. I hold 1 card, so I draw 6. Here is my new hand...

This was a great first turn. We didnt lose any ships, and I sank 9vp of his ships. Remember, his fleet started with 11vp of ships, so regardless of how many ships he brings in, if I sink 2vp more ships, I win. Fiction/Story: Kommandor Fredriksen happily listened to the incoming battle reports. The Alfa was dead and Krivak blown out of the water. Already his tactical staff was reviewing their options for how to finish off the Soviets. Kaptain Karpol was hauled aboard the Neustrashimy along with the other bridge survivors of the blasted Krivak. Luckily, the Harpoon missiles had struck aft, sparing the bridge form their devastation. The loss of the Alfa was a blow, he was relying on it to play a vital role in the battle. Even as he changed into a dry uniform, he was planning his counter-attack.

Turn #2 - Soviet Player

The Soviet player cant do anything to adjust his fleet.

Actions:

He plays an SSM against the Narvik.

An Air Support against the Ula.

And a Bomber Strike against my fleet. To play the Bomber Strike he discards 2 cards from his hand. He allocates 1 Strike to each of my ships. Declare Defenses:

I play a Missile Combat card to try and stop his Missile Combat card.

I am most worried about his Bomber Strike. I play a Missile Combat, Air Support, and a Superior Tactics against it. The Superior Tactics is played with any other Action card and is treated as a copy of the other card. I have three rolls of 2+ and I allocate 1 to each of the strikes against the Narvik, Bergen, and Tronheim. I also play a Screening Ship to move the Strike from the Bergen to the Skjold. Defense Die Rolls: I roll for my Missile Combat to stop his Missile Combat and get a 1. Failure! I then roll for my cards trying to stop his Bomber Strike. For the Narvik I roll a 1, and it is not stopped. For the Trondheim I roll a 6, and it is stopped. The Skjold gets 2 rolls to stop the 2 Strikes targeting it. I need to 5+ to succeed. I roll a 3, and a 5, so 1

is stopped. Resolve Attacks: His Missile Combat hits the Narvik and it sinks. I also discard his Strike against it since it is sunk. He then rolls for his Strike against the Trondheim and gets a 3, and sinks it. His Strike roll against the Skold is a 6, and it is also sunk. He then rolls for his Air Support attack against the Ula, and gets a 3, which sinks it. My fleet is reduced to just the Bergen. Reinforce: He chooses not to bring in any more ships. Discard: He keeps his last 2 cards and does not discard. Everybody Draws: He draws 5 cards. I draw 5 cards. I now have

The Cruise Missile and Torpedo could both be great attacks if I had the launchers to use them. Both cards would be very hard to stop. The Cruise Missile is very difficult to stop. The opposing player must

subtract 4 from his defense rolls and the Torpedo gives defending dice a -2. He has sunk 11 of the 11 victory points he needs to win. I need to sink his last ship on my turn which will also give me 11vp, or he will win the game. At best, Im hoping for a tie. Fiction/Story: Kommandor Fredriksen stared in shock as his fleet was reduced to flaming hulks by the combined Soviet attacks. He had only one chance to even the score before the Soviet ship pulled away. Kaptain Karpol gazed happily at the tactical display and waved his senior officers over to join him. And that gentlemen, is why we will win this war. We are a combined force of naval and air power. When one meets resistance, the other is there to smash its way through!